Fashion - Thrift Shops & My Tips for Shopping in them

Hi guys!

Even before I started my blog, I was always on the hunt for a bargain when it comes to shopping. One of the best places to find a bargain when it comes to clothes, shoes and books is thrift (or charity) shops. I know people may have negative opinions about shopping in thrift shops, but there's really nothing to be negative about when it comes to them. I've actually got some of the nicest dresses, skirts and tops from them over the years for very inexpensive prices, so I'd really encourage you to check out your local ones. Not only are you getting a bargain but you're supporting the charity too - guilt free shopping, yay!

I understand though that there's people that just don't know where to begin when it comes to shopping in them, and that's where Shelly Says So comes in with my advice on shopping in them. Some of these tips can also be applied to shopping in general. You're welcome! xo.

Tip No.1: Be patient!
As a rule, charity shops are as organised as can be but they're quite a different experience from shopping in Penneys (Primark for all my lovely British friends!) or New Look. In Penneys you walk in and you see a pretty dress. That pretty dress is all in different sizes, all on the same rail. However, it's quite a different story in  charity shops (with the exception being the British Heart Foundation here in Carlisle, everything is so organised). You see a pretty dress, but it's not in your size and on the same rail there could be up to thirty different dresses. It leads to expected frustration, so you must be patient. Rummage through rails like your life depends on it because you never know, the dress of your dreams could be stuck behind a load of other boring dresses....

Tip No.2: Know when something is a bargain or just shite! 
From personal experience even from shopping in the likes of Penneys, I know how easy it is to get swept up in the moment just because a product is a low price. Charity shop clothes are of good quality, there is no way anything would be allowed through their doors and put on a rail if they had holes in them where there wasn't supposed to be holes or were in need of rescue. But I've lost count of how many times I've fallen in love with what a dress looks like and the low price of it and abandon everything else that's important when it comes to selecting an item of clothing. Yes, it looked nice on the rail and was as cheap as chips, but when I came home and tried it on, wanting to wear it for a night out, I found that it just wasn't the right fit and was drawing attention to the parts of my body I'm insecure about. Therefore it was a mishap on my behalf and felt like money down the drain (a fiver doesn't seem like too much but when you're a student, a fiver is loads to spend and could have been used for other things (like alcomohol haha), and the dress never did get it's night out on the town.

Tip No.3: Think practical!
This kind of ties in with my second tip above, and it's a mishap I'm equally guilty of making when it comes to thrift shopping, as well as regular shopping. Again, I fall in love with a skirt, dying to wear it out, and then realise it doesn't go with anything else in my wardrobe whatsoever. I know fashion is all about experimentation, but fashion is also like a relationship; if it's a strange fabric/material/colour it could be difficult for it to get on and work well with the rest of your clothes. Same thing applies if you have a million of the same type of clothing at home. If you already have a LBD at home that you barely wear as it is don't bring another one home with you - no matter how cheap it is - to hog further valuable space in your wardrobe.

Tip No.4: Try to not get disheartened. 
It's happened to me many times. I walk in one week to a charity shop and I come out with a bagful of bargains, the next week I go into the same one and I'm lucky if I find a book in it I want to read. It's often a matter of luck and being there at the right day and at the right time. Anyways, shopping should be fun, and shopping in charity shops is even more fun, if you let it be that way. This may be a sign I'm getting old, but I enjoy nothing more than spending an afternoon browsing through the rails, even better if I have a friend with me and we can laugh at some of the items for sale in the shop (High School musical calendar from 2005, anyone?). It's such a good feeling when you finally get a good bargain that you weren't expecting that it's well worth it.

Tip No.5: Wash the clothes!
Like I've mentioned already, charity shop clothing is at a very high standard. You'll never walk in and see clothes with vomit or any other bodily fluid on them, but they do have quite a strange smell that obviously transfers to the clothes, so I always wash the clothes after I purchase them, just to make sure all smells are off them and they smell fresh and fancy for your nights or days out.

So here are a few of my charity shop bargains!!

Flowery Dress: NCBI (National Council for the Blind Ireland), Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Cost €5.

Polka dot Dress (by AX Paris)
: Oxfam Dublin, €5.

 

Polka dot dress (by AX Paris):
 Oxfam in Dublin, €5.

Shorts: 50c (NCBI, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland).

Beauty - Make Up Gallery Review

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog!

I was in Poundland a few weeks ago and spotted that they had a range of make up there - Make Up Gallery. Everything was just a pound each (obviously!) so I decided to pick a few things out (sure it was hardly going to put me in debt!), and in the end I picked out four things: pressed powder, blusher, liquid foundation and colour moisture lipstick. For my Irish readers, these are avaliable in Dealz for €1.49 each.

Long Lasting Foundation

This is a liquid foundation that claims to be "natural long lasting". It contains UVA filters which is basically a thin film on the skin which protects it from sun damage (although it's unlikely it'll fufil it's role in the UK until another few months!) and also contains the antioxidant Vitamin E, which plays a role in anti-aging.
I picked up this foundation in the lightest shade - Ivory 1. I tried it out the morning before I headed to work after priming, and then added eyeliner, mascara, all the other bits. It seemed OK at first and I was quite happy. Then I went to the bathroom to get some tissue and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. As  my bathroom had much better light, the foundation appeared super orange. Like Oompa Loompa orange! I couldn't go anywhere obviously looking like that, so had to scrub it all off (including my liquid eyeliner - girls, if you know the struggle you will know how pissed off I was about that!), and applied a more paler fit-to-skintone foundation. Therefore, I've no idea of how this foundation is for wear!

Pressed Powder
As the powder in this range is Translucent, I had no concerns about trying it out. Again, this product contains Vitamin E. It does have a rather strongly perfumed scent to it. Personally I didn't mind it but I know many others will. I was really impressed with this powder, though. I applied it all over, and it helped my makeup stay matte and oil-free all day long, working as well if not better than other high end brands I've tried in the past. Really good buy!

Blusher
This light pink blusher - 'Soft Blush 1' is in a teeny tiny container and like the other products, also contains Vitamin E. It doesn't have a strong scent like the powder. It's not very pigmented, but it does give a very subtle, in-from-the-cold effect, and lasts well.  Another good 'un!

Colour Moisture Lipstick
The lighting in Poundland at the time must have been off  - or else I'm going blind - but when I picked up this lipstick I thought it was black and was slightly excited as I have been meaning to try out a black lippy for quite some time. With a name like 'Black Cherry' you wouldn't blame me for thinking that! However, when I tried it out for a night out over Christmas, I found out that it's really more like a dark berry. I wanted to try it out for the night but I quickly found it doesn't have a great pigment at all - the first coat looks purple, the next application looked just slightly more pigmented. And as it was New Year's Eve, I really didn't want to be stuck in the bathroom re-applying it after every drink, so decided to stick with my Rimmel Lasting Finish lippy.

  

Fashion and Beauty - Christmas Day!

So after the visit to Mass, the unwrapping of presents from Santy, and falling into a food coma after the dinner, I took some time out and decided to write up a blogpost about what I was wearing today for the special occasion. I like to lay round in my trackie and hoodie as much as any other girl, but Christmas only comes round once a year so I like to make some effort for the day.

The tunic dress I'm wearing is from Penneys (Primark) and cost €14 (£10.33). I bought it Sunday afternoon after arriving in Ireland for Christmas. I really like the berry shade of it; this colour is always associated with the festive season so I felt like it was perfect! It actually has sheer sleeves, but to keep nice and toasty during the winter day I popped a long sleeved black top underneath it.
These long sleeved black tops are basic, and they're an essential part of my winter wardrobe, and only cheap as chips too, so I'd definitely recommend to invest.

The black tights were basic ones from Penneys, also bought on Sunday. I got three pairs for €6.

The scarf was also Penneys, it belongs to my sister though so I don't know the price, sorry! I'd imagine it would cost no more than a tenner. Many of my scarves are summery and light, and this is a nice thick one, so perfect for winter.

The boots are Shoe Zone, they have a slight heel on them. I bought them the first weekend I arrived in England as a birthday present to myself (I'm awful good to myself!). They were £20.

The coat is Penneys, but I bought it two years ago so I cannot for the life of me remember the price of it! I really like it as it comes out slightly at the hips and is super warm too!

Before applying makeup, I moisturised my face and neck using my trusty Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating Moisturiser and waited a few moments for it to absorb. My skin is super duper dry at the moment, so I applied it in a thin layer three times. FYI, I've done a blogpost on caring for dry skin, which you can check out HERE.

Foundation I used was L'Oréal True Match foundation in Ivory (the lightest shade in the range). I decided to try out this foundation about two weeks ago as I have heard it being hailed as the 'holy grail' of foundations. I'm not going to say too much  about it here as I am planning on doing a seperate blogpost all about it in the coming weeks. The concealer I used was Rimmel Wake Me Up (review of that product is HERE) under my eyes and on blemishes, before setting it with Rimmel Stay Matte translucent powder.

For eyes, I decided to use a combination of gold and brown eyeshadows to complement the berry in my dress. I used the eyeshadows in the Make Up Revolution Flawless palette. I bought this palette, containing 32 eyeshadows, in Superdrug last month. Correct me if I'm wrong, but sadly, I don't think Make Up Revolution is avaliable in Ireland. I applied 'Medal' all over my lid and up to my browbone. I then applied 'Copper Shimmer' in the crease. Then I applied a small amount of 'Molton Chocolate' where my eyeliner 'flick' would go from. Then I applied 'Gold Digger' at the inner eye. I then used Essence Liquid Ink Liquid eyeliner on the inner eyelid and flicked out to create winged eyeliner effect. I applied a tiny amount of Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Pencil on my waterline, going about half way across. I find that on my small hooded eyes, black kohl eyeliner makes them appear even smaller, so it's used sparingly with me!

The blusher I used was Make Up Gallery Blusher in 'Soft Blush 1'. Make Up Gallery is actually a range of makeup from Poundland, would you believe! In Ireland this range is avaliable in Dealz. I've been trying out this guy plus a few other products for the past few weeks so that is another post I am looking forward to showing you all. I filled in my eyebrows using Primark eyebrow kit.

I was trying to find a lipstick to suit my eye makeup and dress, and I felt red didn't match either of them, so I stole my mum's Essence lipstick in the shade '04 On the Catwalk'. Mum loves this lipstick and after wearing it for the whole day today, I can see why! I've never used any of Essence lipsticks before but I may have to invest after today! This and the liquid eyeliner I mentioned above are widely avaliable in Ireland, from Penneys to several pharmacies, but the only place where Essence is avaliable in the UK is Wilko.






















                                                             Product List and Prices:

Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating Moisturiser, €5/£3.70.
L'Oréal True Match Foundation in 'Ivory', £9.99/€13.55.
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in '040 Soft Beige', £5.49/€6.99.
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in '001 Transparent', £3.99/€5.99.
Make Up Gallery Feeling Blush Blusher in 'Soft Blush 1', £1/€1.49.
Make Up Revolution Ultra Eyeshadow Palette in 'Flawless', £8.
Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in '061 Jet Black', £2.99.
Essence Liquid Ink Liquid Eyeliner in 'Black', €2.49.
Essence Lipstick in '04 On The Catwalk' (think its around €3/£2).
Primark Eyebrow Kit, £1/€2.


Hope you enjoyed this post! Any questions, don't be shy! xx

"My Happy Place" in association with Independent.ie

Hi everyone!
 
For their 'Mind Yourself' campaign, I was asked by Independent.ie (online version of an Irish newspaper), to discuss my "happy place".

Everyone's happy place is different.

For me, it's the beach.

Not any beach, mind. My local beach in situated in the small, quiet town of Enniscrone in County Sligo in the west of Ireland holds a special place of importance in my heart. No other beach seems to compare, quite frankly.

If the sun was ever kind enough to make a rare apperance in summer-time in Ireland, that's where myself and my family used to always go to, as the beach is approximately less than fifteen minutes drive away from where my home house is. The sun would be cramping and distressful elsewhere, but at the beach the temperature was off-setted by the cool, salty Atlantic Ocean air.
 

When I walk out onto the beach, I feel calm. Life goes round us in a frantic blur, so it's always a good idea to just stop and remember to breathe sometimes. It helps massively as a stress reliever and I used to frequent the beach a lot when I was busy revising for my final year school and college exams. Hearing the rhythmic pulse of the ocean waves is so peaceful. Having a quick walk on the beach and also around the pier worked all sorts of wonders for my physical and mental states.

 

When I was feeling down about life, it helped me to gain some perspective. Life appears difficult, crazy and often unfair... until you witness a beautiful Enniscrone sunset, and you wonder why you were ever down in the first place! It makes me appreciate that I can see, that I'm alive, that I can witness such beauty. So many are not in the fortunate way that I am, and I am grateful for it. It's a reminder that it's the little things that are important in life.

When I'm there, I remember with fondness growing up around the beach and the memories connected with the beach.

I remember the memories I had there during the summers as a child. Bucket and spade in hand, making a sandcastle. Flying a kite and watching the colours of the fabric float gently in line with the clouds. Getting an ice-cream cone with a 99 flake from the ice-cream van that was parked precariously on the edge of the shore (even though it would be near melted by the time you'd get back to your place on the beach!). Running into the water and splashing friends and family with the water was the best laugh and I remember some of my time spent at this beach as the happiest time of my childhood.

 

It was for all of these reasons that, before I left for Dublin Airport to get a flight so I could begin university studies in the UK, there was not another place that I most wanted to spend my last evening in Ireland. It did not disappoint, obviously. The sunset was amazing and I left the beach with a smile on my face, well ready for my new adventure. I'm really looking forward to going there when I'm back home in Ireland at Christmas-time.

For more information on this lovely beach, please do check out the website (though this is not a promotional blogpost by any means): http://www.discoverenniscrone.com/

Thanks for reading everyone! The photos featured in this blogpost are my own, please give credit if you wish to re-publish.

Please do not hesitate to interact with me on my social media sites, which are to the right of the screen if you're on a laptop! xx

Beauty - Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle: Part 2

You may remember about two months back I did a blogpost explaining how I am trying to grow my nails after biting them for years. I bought Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle and decided to try it out. It promised to give 30% longer nails in just five days, and so my blogpost was all about my thoughts on the product after using it for five days (see HERE).

I was supposed to write up a blogpost exactly a month later, but with moving over for uni and everything else I lost track of time and to be honest forgot all about the follow-up review I was supposed to post, so you're getting it over two months later, soz!

I applied a thin coat to my nails once a day. As you can see, there was a huge difference in the growth in my nails. Absolutely amazing! They grew back better on the left side because the right side would be the nails I'd most frequently bite as that's the hand I write with and do most things with. (by the ways, the black is not dirt, it's actually some very stubborn nail polish that I put on for my going away celebrations back in Ireland and I had no nail polish remover until recently so...).

My friend asked me a while back if the whole experience of not biting my nails had been difficult for me the last month. And I won't lie - it's been one of the hardest things I've had to do! It was made more difficult by the fact that this Sally Hansen nail growth treatment is not like the stuff my mum used to get me years ago in an attempt to get me to stop biting; when you'd bite your nails you'd get this horrible taste so you'd be less inclined to bite them again - if you've ever tried it before you'll know exactly what I'm talking about! Ugh! This product had no taste to put you off biting whatsoever. It was all willpower. I had to actively stop myself from biting my nails and as somebody who bit her nails for 13 years, I am proud of myself.

I won't lie though - I have an odd nibble now and again when I feel stressed. The last few weeks have been the most... I won't say really stressful, because for the most part it's been amazing - I'm enjoying living here and have met some really super people so far... but it's definitely been challenging, because even though there are similarities to Ireland, I am living in a different country, getting used to a new course and university, starting a new job and getting used to a new accent (it's quite strange not hearing an Irish accent everywhere I go!) Anyways, I bought a second bottle of this Sally Hansen stuff for £9.99 in Boots recently and I'm making it my aim, starting this week to get back to where my nails were in the photo below, so fingers crossed I actually manage to stop for good this time!

Anyways, here are the photos for you to judge for yourself whether it helped (before I ruined it all...)

Hope you enjoyed this post! xx

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Fashion & Beauty - It's my birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

I'm only starting to get back into blogging after what can only be described as an extremely hectic two weeks! I'm starting university in England tomorrow (eeep!), having moved over from Ireland on Wednesday to get settled into my new surroundings. I'll have a blogpost up in the future talking a little bit about the city that I'm currently living in for uni (Carlisle in the north west of England). Although I'm about to become a full time student again, I have decided to keep blogging as I really like to write so much and as creepy as it may sound, I have made tons of online friendships from all over the world because of it. However, I will say that instead of blogging once/twice/maybe three times a week, I'll blog when I can and when I have time, as the priority will obviously be university and everything that goes with it, but  I wouldn't want to publish anything on my blog that wasn't of good standard and great material.

 My blog will still be beauty, fashion and lifestyle on a budget, but it will be obviously much more student orientated. Even though I bought some makeup from British brands the other day, I'll try to keep things as relevant as possible for all my lovely Irish readers!

Anyways, this blogpost is all about my birthday celebrations. My 23rd birthday wasn't until yesterday (19th September), but as I won't be returning to see my friends and family in Ireland again until Christmas break, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them and wanted to celebrate my birthday with them, so with that in mind, I decided to have last weekend (the 12th September), as a birthday celebration and also as a kind of going away celebration as well. Celebrating my birthday a week early? Yes please!

The dress I'm wearing is from AX Paris. They have a website, and although the stuff on it is fabulous, they are more than bit expensive on there, even items on sale. This dress costs €52.50 online and if you wish you can still buy it at http://www.axparis.com/products/Lace-Detailed-Top-Midi-Dress.html. A boutique in my hometown in Ireland however was selling it on sale for just €12, reduced from the price they were selling it at which was €42. Can't go wrong with that can you?!

The metallic heels I'm wearing are from Penneys (Primark), I have mentioned them in previous posts, I got them on a reduced sale of €12 reduced from €16. They are so nice and easy to walk in that they are actually the only pair of high heels I own that made the cut into the suitcase to England!

Regarding makeup, I'm not sure can you see it clearly enough in the photo of me above, I didn't actually manage to take a selfie that night before I went out (what is becoming of me?!), but most of the products I've used before on nights out. The foundation I used was my holy grail night time foundation, MaxFactor Skin Luminiser in the shade '40 Light Ivory' (€15.99), concealer I used under my eyes and on blemishes was Rimmel Wake Me Up (€6.99, review of that product is HERE), powder I used was Primark Loose Powder (€2, review of this product is to come), blush I used was Catrice Defining Blush in Sunrose Avenue (€4.49, review of that product is HERE). In terms of eye makeup, I created a subtle smoky eye using the W7 In the Nude eyeshadow palette (I'll have a blogpost on this palette up shortly) before adding some drama with my all time favourite false eyelashes, Primark Sultry (€1.50), before lining with Essence Liquid Ink liquid eyeliner. I lined my lips with Primark lipliner in a berry shade before applying Primark Matte Long Last Lipstick in the shade 'Ladies Day' (€2). This lipstick is super matte and drying so do please use some lipbalm like the Nivea Essentials lipbalm (€2.09, review of that product is HERE), before applying, though this lipstick will stay on all night.

The tan I wore wearing is the amazing Cocoa Brown Day & Night tan (review of that product is HERE).

If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that over the past month I have not been biting my nails and using Sally Hansen Nail Growth miracle treatment to speed up the growth process (I wrote about my thoughts after using the product for five days HERE) and actually hope to have a second blogpost after using it for month up shortly. They have finally become long enough to apply nail polish to. I chose New York Color Gel Gloss in the shade '800 Greenwich Shopper', which is a matte black colour which wouldn't distract from the dress or the makeup. I find it an OK product, you need to apply two coats to the nail because anything else just looks transparent. It cost €2.20.

For the actual day of my birthday, I spent much of the day exploring around my new city surroundings. Even though I've spent so much on clothes and other bits the last few days since moving over, I had to buy a few presents for myself - sure if you can't treat yourself on your birthday when can you?! I picked out a brown skirt, a brick red crop top and black heeled boots in New Look. I thought the colours together looked so autumnal and really bang on trend.  I reckon I'll do a blogpost soon enough on the clothes that I bought.

Later in the evening I strolled into the city centre to have a few cheeky birthday drinks. I randomly passed the Irish pub on the way home and had to pop in for one - sure why not. All and all I had a really great birthday - here's to being 23, yeaaah!

Thanks so much also to those who wished me a happy birthday on my Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or through good auld calls and texts - it was very much appreciated!

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Fashion & Beauty - Floral Girly Outfit and Look of the Night

Welcome back to my blog!

Before I start, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who checked out my last blog post I posted last Thursday - the travel diary on Liverpool. I was so nervous hitting the 'publish' button as it was the first blogpost of it's kind I had done on my blog, but I had such a great response for it so needless to say I was delighted! I am planning another travel blogpost very soon as well - on Edinburgh - so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Anyways, this blogpost centres around the outfit and hair I wore for my best friend's birthday celebrations in the middle of July.

The dress I'm wearing is from Irish website Dresses.ie, and  I actually won in an Instagram competition a week before I wore it out.  I think it's so pretty and summery. Their Facebook page is HERE, on it you will find a link to their website (AKA a massive urge to buy most, if not all of their clothes, LOL!). As an Irish blogger, I really think it's important to support Irish brands so I was happy to do up this blogpost. This dress is still avaliable to buy too - yay!

The wedges are from Penneys, I bought them a while ago for €12. They are actually really comfortable to walk in so I managed to keep them on my feet the whole night. I really like them a lot.

The tan I'm wearing is Cocoa Brown Day to Night tan, I've done a review of this tan  plus the Tough Stuff exfoliating scrub HERE.

My cute feather necklace was bought for £1 in Primark in Edinburgh when I was there a few months back.

For makeup, I used many of the items before in many other of my blog posts. After cleansing my face with Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Foaming Wash (review HERE), I applied Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating moisturiser (review HERE as a base to my face and Nivea essentials lipbalm (review HERE) to my lips (where else?!) and started to work on my eye makeup. I didn't go too mad with the eye makeup, I just applied Primark eyelashes in Volume (they're part of a five piece set of eyelashes), and applied Natural Collection Liquid eyeliner on top, flicking slightly outwards for a feline-like effect. As per usual, the foundation I used for night-time was Max Factor Skin Luminiser foundation in the shade Light Ivory. I applied Kubiss concealer under my eyes and on any blemishes before setting my whole face with Primark Beauty loose powder. I defined my eyebrows using Primark Beauty eyebrow kit. I then applied Catrice Defining Blush (Review HERE) to the apples of my cheeks. I applied Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in 'Pinkerbell' to my lips before blotting with a tissue to make it a bit more wearable and less bright and 'out there'.

For my hair, after washing it I applied some of the Macademia oil hair mask (review of that product is HERE), left it in for 2 hours while my tan was drying, washed it out and was left with curls but I defined them more using my Remington curling wand, wrapping it around my hair in big sections.


                                                                          Products Used:

Cocoa Brown Tough Stuff Exfoliating Scrub, E4.99, Penneys.
Cocoa Brown Day & Night Tan, E7.99, Penneys.
Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Foaming Wash, E4.75, Boots.
Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating Moisturiser, E5, Boots.
Nivea Essential Care lipbalm, E2.09, Penneys.
Primark Beauty False Eyelashes in 'Volume', part of a set of five for E5.
Boots Natural Collection Liquid Eyeliner, E2.75, Boots.
Maxfactor Skin Luminizer Foundation in '40 Light Ivory', E15.99, Boots.
Kubiss London concealer, E2, local chemist.
Primark Beauty loose powder, E2.50, Penneys.
Primark Beauty browkit, E2, Penneys.
Catrice Defining Blush, E4.75, Penneys.
Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in '140 Pinkerbell', E4.49, Penneys.

Beauty - Garnier Ultimate Blends Shampoo Review

I apologise for my lack of blogposts the last few weeks, but I'm now back with a review of this Garnier Ultimate Blends shampoo.

So I randomly picked up this shampoo in the supermarket a few weeks ago. Apart from their skincare products, for some reason I have never really used Garnier's shampoos but I try new products out all the time because of the blog so I said sure why not to this shampoo. My hair has been dull and dry recently because I use heat on it a lot.

First thing's first - very cute packaging. It claims to be "the marvellous transformer". It contains argan oil and camelia oil. I've already mentioned argan oil in a previous blogpost on my hair care routine HERE, so please check that out.

Camelia oil is a Japanese oil and is a rich source of Palmistic and Omega 6 linoleic fatty acids. Despite it's bad reputation, some fats are very essential to human health.
For those of you that don't have a nutrition background like I do - palmistic fatty acid is the most common fatty acid, and like many other fatty acids, is an effective emollient. In basic terms for hair care, these are usually oils that form films on the surface of hair, where they often act as anti-humectants or sealers. They are lubricants and provide increased slip (decreased drag), between adjacent hair strands, which in the simplest of terms - makes detangling much easier! They also reduce tangling in general by smoothing and flattening the cuticle surface, which also adds shine and gloss to the hair.
I've sure many of you have read up on the benefits of Omega fatty acids, or at least have heard of them. Omega 6 is classed as an essential fatty acid. and as your body is unable to make them, must be obtained from food. In terms of hair though, it has a similar role to palmistic oil in the way that it acts as an emoillient, but it also has a necessary role of it's own - moisturising the scalp and supporting hair health, which in turn leads to more optimal health growth.

I'm sure many of you have watched Japanese Geisha films and wondered how they get their hair so glossy - camelia oil is the most probable reason! The benefit of the oil in haircare has been long documented - because it contains the two fatty acids I've mentioned above!

Before using this shampoo in the shower, I washed my hair with Johnsons' Baby Shampoo to clarify my hair and get rid of any build up of hair care products. You don't have to use Johnsons', that's just the shampoo I use as it's gentle to my hair and works just as well as the more expensive clarifying shampoos. This shampoo smells absolutely fabulous, which I love while washing my hair in the shower. I used a generous enough amount, and it made a great lather on my hair. When I rinsed my hair it immediately felt glossy.

When my hair was dried, it honestly did feel so smooth and silky. The first time I used it I was going out for the night, so after straightening my hair it stayed silky and smooth for the whole night. Amazing!

I will say though that two days after it does make your hair appear super greasy, so I really would only use this for going out, and I stick to my regular, trusted regime of clarifying first with Johnsons' Baby shampoo and washing my hair then with Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Better still, it doesn't contain parabens, which are harmful chemicals often in shampoos, linked to cancer.

Definitely does live up to it's claims of being the "marvellous transformer"!

It costs €4.19 in Boots.

Beauty - Cocoa Brown Scrub and Tan Review

I've mentioned in few of my previous blog posts that I've been working on a review of a Cocoa Brown tan and scrub, but never got round to finishing it off  - until now!

Cocoa Brown is an Irish tan brand founded by the Irish entrapreneur Marissa Carter.

They have quite a good few products in the range, including the 1 Hour Tan that a certain Kylie Jenner has raved about on her Instagram and a moisturiser, but I've only tried out the Tough Stuff 3-in-1 Body Scrub and the Day & Night tan so far so that's what I'm focusing on in this blog post.

So before I apply any tan, I would advise to use a body scrub to get rid of any dead skin cells and dry skin patches to make the tan super smooth to apply. I've used many scrubs in the past, from the St Ives to the L'Oreál ones, but decided to pick this scrub as it was a cheap enough price retailing at just €4.99 in Penneys.

The packaging is really cute and girly pink. It's a light pink coloured scrub as you can see from the photo of it on my hand on the right. It smells absolutely fabulous! You can use it on dry skin to give your skin a deeper exfoliation or you can use it wet in the shower. I apply it to my wet skin because I find it more gentle on my sensitive skin then.

It lives up to it's name in that it is very tough - so for that reason I would say to you not to apply it to a sensitive part of your body or it will look red raw. Stick with tough areas of your body like elbows, knees, ankles, feet and hands. For me I find it makes tanning application much easier and I'm left without tell tale patchy orange bits.

I'd highly recommend to use a moisturiser after exfoliation as well as I find that exfoliation often makes my skin super duper dry.

This scrub has won a number of awards like 'Best Exfoliator' in U Magazine's Beauty Awards 2014 among many others so it's definitely worth snapping up.

 

So now onto the Day and Night tan. This tan set me back €7.99, and like the scrub, was also purchased in Penneys. This tan, like the scrub I've mentioned above, has also won plenty of awards - including scooping the 'Best Instant Tan' award at the U Magazine Beauty Awards 2014. It can be used two ways - an instant tan that develops immediately, or you can use it as a gradual tanner after showering the next day for a sunless glow that lasts up to 5 days. I've used it both ways, but I probably use it more as an instant tan that develops immediately, as I'm not keen on wearing tan every day. There's no horrible burnt biscuit smell off this tan like many other tans - there's a nice fresh, flower-like smell to it. Like I've mentioned, it applies instantly so you get an idea of where you've covered.


It doesn't sting or burn when applied even to my super sensitive skin and contains no parabens. Parabens are chemicals commonly put in cosmetics to prevent bacterial growth, but they were found in recent years to be xenoestrogens which are agents that mimic the hormone oestrogen in the body. The effect - oestrogen disruption - has been linked to breast cancer among other diseases so personally I just like using products that don't contain these harsh chemicals.


I love this tan also because it appears to adapt to my naturally pale skin. Although it says 'light by day, dark by night', it doesn't make me look orange or really dark and brown which would be very un-natural for my porcelain complexion and to be honest would look strange on me.


The only thing I honestly did dislike about this product is that it takes it's time to dry - I had to wait a good 4 hours after application before I could dress myself properly for a night out.
Another dislike is that - even though I know from experience other instant tans do this - if I rubbed ever so slightly on my clothes the tan came off onto it! Not ideal when you're wearing pale dresses and clothing like I often do!


But for the price, I think this tan is far better than more expensive brands such as L'Oreal that I've tried out in the past and the positives far outweigh the negatives in my opinion by far.


Expiry date is 12 months from purchase, and I've had this tan since my graduation in November, and it's done me since then really well!


                                                                        Stockists

Ireland:

• Penneys
•  Boots
•  Superdrug
•  Dunnes Stores
•  Cloud10beauty.com
•  Supervalu
•  Heatons 
• plus other pharmacies.

UK:

• Primark
• Superdrug
•  Tesco

Worldwide shipping is avaliable from:

• FeelUnique.com - browse HERE.

• Cloud10Beauty.com - browse HERE.

• Amazon.com - browse HERE.

Beauty & Fashion - Pink dress and Metallic Heels: Outfit of the Night

I feel like my blog recently has been just beauty and makeup, and I haven't done an outfit post in quite a while, so this is what I'm doing in this blog post.

I wore this outfit to my friend's 21st birthday party at the end of May.

The pink dress is from Mi Mi boutique, their Facebook page is HERE. I'm not going to lie - this dress was expensive at €50 but I think it's just super pretty.

The shoes are Penneys, I've mentioned them in previous blog posts, I think they're so nice, and actually easy enough to walk in too.

The tan is Cocoa Brown Day to Night Tan, I'll have the review of this product plus the Cocoa Brown exfoliating scrub up on my blog next week hopefully.

The bangles are Alex and Ani, I've mentioned them before in my blog posts.

Regarding make-up, it's quite similar to other routines I have done before on nights out. After moisturising with my trusty Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Moisturiser (€5), I applied my holy grail of night-time foundations, Max Factor Skin Luminiser Foundation (€15.99), my shade is in 40 Light Ivory. I concealed with my Kubiss London concealer (€2) and then set both with Catrice All Matt Plus setting powder in 010 Transparent (€3.49). I added some Catrice Defining Blush in Sunrose Avenue (€4.49) to my cheeks. I applied W7 in the Nude eyeshadow palette (€9.99) to my eyes, I'll be doing a seperate blog post on a review and look for this product as it is a dupe for Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I applied Penneys Beauty false eyelashes in Sultry for extra drama. I love these eyelashes, they're quite thin so really easy to apply, highly recommend them. I then applied Essence Liquid Ink Eyeliner (€2.49) over the eyelash band. I then applied Model Co. eyeliner kohl pencil on my waterline. This costs €10 but the pigment is unbelievable and the pencil also comes with a built in sharpener which is very handy indeed. I highlighted using Catrice Highlighting powder (€4.49) and filled in my eyebrows using Penneys PS Beauty eyebrow kit (€2).  I lined my lips using Penneys PS Beauty lipliner in a dark plum shade (€1.50) and applied Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick in 128 Starry Eyed (€5.50), it is a lovely dark plum shade.

Beauty - Essence Disney Cinderella Range Review

To coincide with the Disney movie that was released a few weeks back, the German make-up brand Essence released a Cinderella beauty range - that consists of a highlighter powder, eyeshadow palette, lipgloss, blush and some nail art. I'm only focusing on the make-up products as if anyone has seen my nails knows they are too short to apply any nail art to them as I have a horrible habit of biting them!

I've already mentioned in the blog that I don't really rate Essence make-up products too highly - I think they're generally of bad quality and not even worth the little price you pay for them. I use the word generally because from my previous blog posts people picked up that I don't like them at all - there are some of their products I really love such as their Liquid Ink Liquid Eyeliner, but the majority aren't great. Will this Cinderella range exceed my poor expectations? Let's find out!


Essence Cinderella Highlighter Powder in '01 The Glass Slipper' - €4.09.

Deciding what product to and try out first in this limited edition range was a no-brainer - the beautiful rose-embossed packaging of this highlighter powder drew me in like a bee to honey! It looks a pale pink in the packaging and is quite matte so no sparkly bits, despite the fact that it is Cinderella product! I think it's really beautiful on and not too in-your-face yet not too subtle, so it's a really great find. More than just a pretty packaging.

My rating: 5/5.













Essence Cinderella Eyeshadow Palette in '01 It's More Than I Ever Hoped For' - €4.79

As you can see, this eyeshadow palette is not quite as fancily packaged as the highlighter powder - quite basically packaged as you can see from the picture.. Six different eyeshadows make up this palette - four that are on the bright side and two that are on the darker side. It contains a double ended sponge applicator. The back of the palette contains instructions on how to create a smokey eye - apparently you have to apply the four brighter shades on the lid and up to the eyebrow socket and the darker shades go on the outer V of the eye, so I did as it said. I didn't use the sponge applicator - I really don't know why these are included in eyeshadow palettes, they really don't assist with much and make the eyeshadows very difficult to blend. I didn't apply eyeshadow primer to really test the staying power of these eyeshadows. First impressions are that the four bright colours are really not pigmented well, barely show up whatsoever in fact. The swatches on my (very pale!) arm even directed in sunlight showed that.

The darker shadows are more pigmented by far, but not by much. Like another Essence palette I used, this eyeshadow lasted for the whole day but it did start to fade quite quickly I noticed throughout the day.

My rating: 3/5.







Essence Cinderella Blusher in '01 So This Is Love' - €4.09

This is again, not as impressively packaged as the highlighter powder but cutely packaged all the same as you can see. The blush is a mid-tone pink with coral tones. It looks bright pink in the packaging, so I was a bit wary of using it. I applied only a tiny bit on my brush. Once on however, surprisingly it looks quite natural, and gives a lovely flushed appearance. It lasts all day too. A really nice blusher if you are going for quite a natural look, but try and only use a light hand to make it natural.

My rating: 4/5.











Essence Cinderella Lipgloss in '01 Sing, Sweet Nightingale' - €2.49.

This is quite basically packaged as you can see. The colour in the tube looks quite glittery and glossy it reminded me of a lipgloss I used to get free with teenage magazines back in the day, so I wondered about the quality of it. It's quite sweetly fragranced, almost to the point where it's sickeningly sweet. It does apply quite smoothly to the lips but the small brush doesn't deliver much product to the lips, and for me I found it needed three atte
mpts before it coated my lips fully. Once applied, it appears much like a regular clear lip gloss would, with absolutely NO HINT of this sparkle that you can see in the tube, and also felt slightly sticky on my lips too. It also causes your hair to stick to your lips

in the wind! It's staying power is quite good however, and once applied it will stay good for two/three hours.

My rating: 2/5.











Stockists: I bought all of these items in Penneys (Primark) in Ireland, and in my local Penneys they are still available, but as this was a limited edition range they may not be available anywhere anymore except for Ebay.